A showery day. We headed east from Thessaloniki at 8 a.m. to travel the 170km to Philippi. Let me share some of the history/geography lesson our guide delivered. 600 BC ship builders on the island of Thassos crossed to the nearby Greek mainland to gather timber for their trade. A town was established called "New Town" or Neapolis. Later nearby gold was discovered, and a village grew up supporting the mining. In 356 BC Phillip 2 of Greece, hearing of the gold, moved in and developed the town, naming it Philippi after himself. It was on the plains near here that Mark Antony and Octavion did battle with and defeated Brutus and Cassius (who had murdered Julius Caesar) and ended the Roman Republic, beginning the Imperial era of Rome. After the gold ran out, Philippi lost importance and was reduced to a little agricultural village.
Enter Paul. In Troy he had a vision of a Macedonian begging him to come help them. So he set sail and landed at Neapolis, today known as Kavala. We stopped there to view the port and the ancient Via Egnatia, a 1200km paved Roman road along which Paul would later walk to Thessaloniki. The place is known as the Gospel Gateway to Europe, because Paul entered Europe here from Asia Minor. He
then went to Philippi where he knew there was a small Jewish community. They had no synagogue, so they met outside the town walls by the river for prayer -- and it was there that Paul met them, preached, and converted Lydia, a purple dye merchant. We visited the river where Lydia was baptised and where there is now a nice chapel in her honour. In Philippi Paul got into trouble for his preaching with the local Roman authorities, was hauled before the generals with Silas his companion, flogged, and jailed overnight. Again, we stood in the ruins of the very room where he was charged. The jail has not yet been discovered in the excavations.
Alll very biblical, I know, but I can't see why anyone would go to Philippi except to see where Paul had been. Nothing else there!
Back to Thessaloniki by 5pm. I decided to forego the group dinner and go find a local eating place where I could try the cuisine and atmosphere of the average Greek. Scored a lovely taverna in a side street where I had the best ever Greek salad, local beer, and a mixed grill. I really need to go for another walk to settle it all down! Tomorrow I will taxi to airport at 10 am to start the journey home.
Today's photo selection can be seen here.
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